After Rick And Morty's Wendy's Takeover, Justin Roiland Reveals Why Ads For Other Companies Can Be 'A Nightmare'
The universe is once again in balance now that Rick and Morty Season 5 has arrived on Adult Swim in full alt-dimension glory. While we're not going to spoil anything about what did or didn't happen in the season premiere with Rick's newly introduced nemesis or Morty's love interest Jessica, suffice to say it was a highly enjoyable return to Adult Swim's most successful animated original. To promote the long-awaited new season, Rick and Morty partnered with Wendy's once again for a fun new campaign. But according to co-creator Justin Roiland, it can sometimes be a total nightmare trying to craft ways for Rick and Morty to sell other companies' products.
For its Season 5 push, Rick and Morty went so far as to completely redesign one California-based Wendy's location as "Morty's," while also offering two new themed fountain drinks at locations across the country. (Those would be Mello Yello BerryJerryboree and Mello Yello Portal Time Lemon Lime.) Though it seems like it might be fun to come up with ways for the genius grandfather and grandson to hock PS5s and Pringles, Justin Roiland pointed out to Collider that things aren't always so easy.
First of all, let's all take a step back to appreciate the fact that even though Justin Roiland is busy on roughly eleventeen million different creative projects at any given moment, from Solar Opposites' alien comedy to his video games to as-yet-unseen projects - he's still apparently the key creative force behind Rick and Morty's various advertising adventures. It makes enough sense, considering he voices both Rick and Morty, and it'd doubtful that some random ad exec would be able to write either character's dialogue with the same ribald proficiency.
As cool as it would be for Justin Roiland to hand-pick all the companies he'd like for Rick and Morty to advertise, those decisions are above his pay grade and are no doubt made by the big bosses at Adult Swim, Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. Which can sometimes cause headaches for Roiland when trying to balance the truth of the sardonic characters with an earnest attempt to actually promote a product or business. In his words:
For better or worse, Justin Roiland decided not to dig deeper into which companies were the biggest nightmares to work with, though one can be sure his stories would have been hilarious and awkward. (And it's not like Rick and Morty commercials have been utilized by so many companies that assumptions can't be made, but I digress.) Regardless of who the biggest nightmares are - i.e. everyone but Sarah Chalke's Summer - fans can be assured that the Adult Swim hit will always keep its often immoral ideals in the crosshairs while pushing Wendy's hamburgers and Pringles, at least as long as Roiland is doing the copywriting. Check out the latest Wendy's commercial below!
Whether you're eating fast food or the slowest food known to man, be sure to keep watching Rick and Morty Season 5 every Sunday night on Adult Swim, as well as all the other awesome shows taking over 2021 Summer TV.
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Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper. Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.